ADAMS COUNTY- Concerned Citizens for Compatible Development (CCCD), a grassroots coalition of neighborhood groups, business owners, and property rights advocates, has raised concerns regarding the possible impact to both existing and future residents of Adams County that the proposed zoning amendments to the Standards & Regulations may have.

The proposed amendments appear to remove many of the provisions previously intended to protect existing and adjacent residents, neighborhoods, and businesses from incompatible use and development. By removing “specific” requirements, intended or not, the potential for greater opportunity exists for “inequity” and/or “corruption” to the detriment of the residents.

Many citizens are unaware of the alleged threat posed by transit oriented development (TOD) in regards to property owners, especially for those residents and businesses within a one-mile radius of transit stations. The proposed amendments to zoning rules taking place in Adams County and elsewhere, to apparently accommodate TOD, will impact citizens county and state wide, not just those located near transit.

CCCD is encouraging Adams County residents to attend the Board of County Commissioner Hearing on Monday, December 13th, 2010, beginning promptly at 10:00am, to voice their opinion on the above matter.

P3 A Trap The City Must Avoid

Published December 9, 2010

City council will soon consider using a public-private partnership to finance Edmonton’s LRT expansion, as well as other options, including money from the province, an additional charge on transit fares and tax increases.

While no one, transit rider and car driver alike, wants an increase in their taxes, using a P3 arrangement would likely result in a higher price tag for LRT, and more money coming out of everyone’s pocket.

The experience of other cities offers a bleak outlook. A report by a Quebec research group called Urbanisation Culture Society, commissioned by The Canadian Federation of Municipalities, says privatization appeals to city councillors because they can appear fiscally responsible, but the actual costs of a project increase.

“Officials appear to be adhering to ceilings on long-term debt or commitments,” the report reads, “while benefiting de facto from the same asset, although generally at greater cost.”

Ottawa used a P3 agreement to build an arena, and in 2007 ended up taking it back at great cost to the city.

Adams County assessor insists politics plays no role in his minimizing donors’ property taxes

Total donations: $2,800 in 2002 and 2006 Location of property: Luxury-home development near Riverdale Road overlooking South Platte River What happened: Taxable values of homes owned by Lloyd Land and his daughter have been unchanged since 2005, while neighbors’ homes grew $200,000 and $350,000 in taxable value. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post-)

BRIGHTON — The Adams County assessor has slashed millions of dollars from the taxable value of properties owned by the largest contributors to his election campaigns, a Denver Post investigation found.

As a result, the county is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each year on properties where records list Assessor Gil Reyes as the account manager who opted to “adjust” their values downward.

The review of assessments on properties owned by top contributors to Reyes’ campaigns found that his leading donor, a California-based warehouse company, has won reductions in taxable value totaling $23 million on 11 buildings. Those reductions saved the company more than $800,000 in property taxes this year

Total donations: $2,000 in 2002 and 2006 Location of property: East of Colorado Boulevard and south of Thornton Parkway What happened: Land was reclassified from residential to agricultural, reducing taxable value by 99 percent. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post-)

alone.The assessor’s office reduced values of vacant land owned by other contributors as much as 99 percent. It currently classifies a patch of asphalt and acres of weeds as qualifying for low “agricultural” rates.

And Reyes kept the values of custom homes owned by a leading contributor and his daughter unchanged since 2005, while their immediate neighbor — Colorado Rockies star Todd Helton — saw the taxable value of his house grow almost $350,000.

Reyes says campaign donations never influenced the decisions he made.

“I don’t care if they donated or didn’t donate. I don’t care if they’re Republicans or Democrats. I’m the assessor for Adams County,” he said. “Once you’re here, there is no politics.”

Nonetheless, he acknowledged that properties owned by some of his campaign supporters may be taxed at unjustifiably low rates. In some cases, his office is already moving to revoke agricultural-land classifications in response to questions from The Post.

U.S. Supreme Court Decides Whether to Hear New York Eminent Domain Abuse Case

Arlington, Va.—On Friday, December 10, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether to take Nick Sprayregen’s appeal and protect his family’s property. You have probably never heard of Nick Sprayregen, but his legal challenge has the potential to impact the lives of ordinary Americans more than most cases seeking U.S. Supreme Court consideration.

It is exactly because he is such an ordinary American that his experience should be taken to heart, because unless the U.S. Supreme Court takes some specific action on his behalf and stops the actions of a politically powerful private interest, the fate of his family business could be the fate of your home, your family business or any other property you and your family own.

Even though Nick worked hard his whole life, he now stands to lose what is rightfully his because of government’s use of eminent domain for someone else’s private gain.

The politicians and judges in New York, where he lives, have turned their backs on his constitutional rights. Now, the fate of his property and his family’s future lies in the hands of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. If they do not take his case and reject their infamous Kelo ruling from five years ago, Nick Sprayregen will be the latest American to lose his private property and constitutional rights, but he won’t be the last.

In 1980, Nick’s father created a self-storage business in West Harlem called Tuck-it-Away. Self-storage back then was a new idea in the region and their business thrived. Nick joined the family business, ultimately taking it over after his father retired and expanding it to more than a dozen locations beyond their West Harlem headquarters. For Nick, his business represents a secure little corner of the world that is his own—a hard-earned possession he hopes some day to pass on to his children.

In 2004, however, his American Dream started to turn into an American nightmare. Columbia University—a private institution—began its efforts to expand its research facilities—which generate millions of dollars in private profits for the school each year. Columbia has convinced the Empire State Development Corporation to help it expand the private university’s facilities onto the very land where Nick’s business now stands. While New York’s Appellate Division invalidated the taking on the grounds that it (and the “blight” designation it was based on) was nothing more than a land-grab designed to advance Columbia’s private interests, the Court of Appeals (the state’s highest court) reversed that decision, holding that the state’s courts were not allowed to second-guess the government’s decision to seize private property.

MORE THAN 1,000 RESIDENTS SIGN ON IN SUPPORT OF GRASSROOTS PETITION OPPOSED TO POSSIBLE RTD RAIL MOVE[facebook]

ADAMS COUNTY-A grassroots coalition of neighborhood groups and property rights advocates led by the Colorado Property Rights Coalition (CPRC) announced today that more than 1,000 people have signed onto a petition voicing opposition to the possible relocation of a proposed RTD commuter rail station (see copy of example petition attached).

Together with Concerned Citizens For Compatible Development, CPRC also announced today that its members have united to fight any reversal of a previous decision by County and transit officials to locate RTD’s Federal commuter rail station just east of the Federal Boulevard near West 60th Avenue on an industrial, blighted site.

Specifically at issue: Adams County officials, together with RTD, are now backtracking on their prior support for the above location, doing so in spite of a multi-year environmental and site-review process concluding that the site best met the needs of the local community.

Despite hundreds of hours of review involving multiple state and federal government agencies at a cost of millions to taxpayers, County officials are now reconsidering a site located approximately 1/4 mile to the west of Federal. Described by The Denver Post as “wooded and more pastoral, with Clear Creek and an accompanying bicycle and pedestrian trail,” the location had previously been rejected, in part, to its sensitive wetland topography and wildlife.

“With this petition, we’ve got more than 1,000 of us little guys standing up to a government we once trusted to be there for us as a community,” said CPRC President Tom Wambolt. “Our government pledged to listen to the people. While politicians listened, they must not have heard us over the loud voice of an out-of-state developer seeking to turn the west side into a series of high-density homes and businesses. Meanwhile, the east side – which has suffered from decades of neglect – once again stands to lose if not selected for the site.”

Petition backers plan to deliver the petition signatures to the County and RTD early next week.

Working to protect the rights of the citizens and preserve our ecosystems from over aggressive developers, Concerned Citizens for Compatible Development (CCCD) is a grassroots coalition comprised of residents, community members, property, and business owners in Unincorporated Southwest Adams County who support responsible development that is both compatible and sustainable. We will strive to support development that will benefit the broader community while at the same time preserve the unique characteristics of our surrounding neighborhoods, our wildlife, streams, lakes, biking paths, and other valued characteristics of Unincorporated Southwest Adams County.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Any language appearing on this Web site, and all viewpoints expressed therein, shall not be construed as representing any official position of CCCD, but rather shall be viewed as the expressions presented by individual authors, bloggers, or other interested individuals. CCCD makes no representations or warranties of any kind with regard to this Web site or any of its contents. In addition, any legal language appearing on this site is not intended as legal advice and shall not be used as such or any other way that could could assist the user in legal strategy, including litigation.